London Has Fallen - Movie Review

I am a fan of Gerard Butler so I wouldn’t miss “London has fallen”. The title prepares you for something extreme but the plot is totally crazy. Some of the world’s greatest political leaders, including the American President, decide to go for a visit to a planet ruled by terrorists. Why do they do that? I don’t know. Even more strangely, the planet looks exactly like London. Anyway, as expected, the terrorists start killing the leaders and the only one left alive is the American President, who becomes their number one target. Since this is a different planet the police and military forces of our world can do nothing to help him except to watch the action through satellite images. What action? I forgot to mention that the President is escorted by his faithful, super-hyper-ultra effective bodyguard, Mike Banning, who is played by Butler.

What follows is like watching Rambo being unleashed in an urban environment: Banning starts killing the terrorists with knives, pistols and assault rifles, relentlessly and bloodily, in various locations, such as an MI6 hideout or an underground train station. The first movie, “Olympus has fallen”, was based on the same idea but this one is much better for two reasons: 1) there is no kid to be saved. Kids who need rescuing spoil action movies. 2) the action has a lot more variety, the choreography is fluid, the violence is intense and there is an abundance of property destruction, special effects and brutality; in fact, I wish there were even more terrorists for Banning to eliminate and I loved the direction of the last battle, which reminds of a first person shooter.

Besides the above, Butler gives another good performance, at least whenever the script allows him to do so, adding emotional depth through his eyes and voice even to simple lines. Most importantly, listen carefully to what he says to the terrorist boss: “We are not a building, we are not a flag, we are not one man. No matter how many of us you kill, in a thousand years we’ll still be here.” I loved this phrase; it is the meaning of belonging to a nation with vivacity and goals.

So, if you want mindless action “London has fallen” is as mindless as you can get. The previous movie was silly and boring but this one is illogical in an enjoyable way. It doesn’t pretend to be real, it just sucks you into an insane world full of bad guys and the hero being the only one to oppose them. I have recommended it to a friend of mine and I wonder what may happen in a possible sequel!